Dawn Sanders

Session Overview

This session is designed to equip women and their supporters with practical tools to thrive in high‑performance environments. The session recognises the unique demands women face and focuses on building systems, skills, and cultures that enable long‑term success, not just short‑term results.

Session Objectives

By the end of the session, participants will:

• Understand the specific pressures and demands women experience in high‑performance settings
• Learn evidence‑informed strategies to sustain performance without compromising wellbeing
• Identify individual, team, and organisational actions that better support women
• Leave with practical tools they can apply immediately

Key Demands Women Face in High Performance Environments1. Performance Pressure + Perfectionism

• Higher expectations to prove competence and credibility
• Fear of mistakes being judged more harshly
• Internalised perfectionism and self‑criticism

WinWell Lens: Sustainable excellence comes from learning cultures, not fear‑based performance.

2. Identity Load & Role Complexity

• Balancing multiple identities (athlete/leader/professional, caregiver, partner)
• Limited space to show vulnerability or ask for support
• Feeling the need to “fit in” rather than belong

WinWell Lens: Thriving happens when people are supported as whole humans, not just performers.

3. Under‑representation & Visibility

• Being one of few women in the room
• Pressure to represent all women
• Fewer visible role models and mentors

WinWell Lens: Belonging and representation are performance enablers, not “nice to haves.”

4. Physiological & Life‑Stage Factors

• Menstrual cycle, hormonal changes, injury recovery differences
• Pregnancy, return‑to‑performance, menopause
• Lack of open conversation or informed support

WinWell Lens: High performance must adapt to the individual—not force individuals to adapt to rigid systems.

5. Psychological Safety & Voice

• Hesitation to challenge decisions or speak up
• Fear of being labelled as “difficult” or “emotional”
• Reduced confidence in male‑dominated environments

WinWell Lens: Psychological safety unlocks learning, trust, and consistent performance.

How to Best Support Women to Thrive1. Individual‑Level Strategies

• Values‑based goal setting (performance aligned with personal values)
• Reframing pressure as information, not threat
• Building self‑compassion alongside accountability
• Energy management over constant output

Interactive: Reflection exercise – “What does thriving look like for me?”

2. Team & Leadership Support

• Normalising open conversations around wellbeing and performance
• Coaching styles that balance challenge with care
• Active sponsorship, not just mentorship
• Clear feedback standards applied consistently

Interactive: Case study discussion using WinWell scenarios

3. System & Culture Changes

• Flexible performance pathways
• Education around female‑specific health and performance
• Visible commitment to inclusion and representation
• Measuring success beyond outcomes (behaviours, wellbeing, learning)

WinWell Principle: High‑performing systems are human‑centred systems.

Take‑Home Tools

• Personal Thriving Checklist (performance, wellbeing, support)
• Conversation starters for leaders and teams
• Practical actions to implement in the next 30 days

Closing Message

Thriving in high‑performance environments should not require women to be more resilient to broken systems. By empowering women and intentionally shaping supportive cultures, performance and wellbeing rise together.

Empower the person. Strengthen the system. Sustain performance.

What we can learn from elite athlete transitions in supporting people to navigate uncertainty and change. This session will draw upon the parallels and lessons we can all learn from the experiences elite athletes go through when living through and managing seismic change and transition as they move beyond the performance arena. We are often driven to help people make positive changes in their lives and we have all been through periods of uncertainty and change before. But we often don’t explore what has got us through this change in the past and what might help us to get through change in the future. In hearing athlete experiences of transition, we can explore what we might be able to learn from these experiences to support ourselves and others through periods of uncertainty and change.

What it covers:

• Defining what we mean by change and transition by outlining some of the key transitions that athletes go through, throughout their sporting journey
• Outlining why change and transition can be hard
• Exploring the transformational support people need to understand and manage change and transition
• Understand some of the behaviours, tips, and tools that people say they feel supports them during periods of change

Behind every Olympic and Paralympic medal is a person who’s wellbeing and lifestyle needs must be met to enable them to perform under the scrutiny, pressure, and spotlight of elite sport. In this session we will be taken behind the scenes of an elite athlete’s lifestyle and explore the impact that elite sport can have on mental health and examine how developing wellbeing can positively impact performance. Athletes need to care for their mental health and wellbeing as much as their physical health to main and sustain their performance. We explore what is meant by mental health and wellbeing in a performance environment and how best to help people develop and enhance their wellbeing to aid career longevity, self worth and performance.

What it covers:

1. Explore athlete wellbeing case studies and experiences

2. Understand why it’s often hard for athletes to say they’re not OK

3. Define how Coaching and Mentoring and a holistic, individualised approach can have a positive impact on performance and wellbeing.

4. The importance of identity, giving back and gratitude to develop performance wellbeing

5. The importance of individualised self-care plans